Paul Hughes had no problem playing into the Ireland vs. Dagestan narrative built around his first fight against Usman Nurmagomedov but in reality he had no actual beef with the PFL lightweight champion.
They ultimately engaged in one of the best fights of the year thus far in 2025 with Hughes and Nurmagomedov showing respect towards each other after a grueling, back and forth five-round war. But as they prepare to meet again on Oct. 3 in Dubai, Hughes admits his feelings towards Nurmagomedov have changed after he claims the Russian did everything possible to prevent the rematch from happening.
“I certainly would have a lot more respect for him if he came out straight away and was like ‘I want this rematch now,’” Hughes told MMA Fighting. “Fair enough, maybe I’ll go have one more fight and then to the rematch but that’s exactly what I did and knocked [Bruno Miranda] out in 43 seconds and knocked him down with the first punch. I didn’t get hit once. How better can I prove myself and how better can I build up an even bigger rematch than that?
“I definitely would have had more respect for him if he came out and just went ‘yeah, OK, let’s do the rematch.’ The fact that he tried to stall it and actively not make the fight happen, it definitely decreases that level of respect. But if anything it just adds fuel to my fire to beat that man.”
There was a moment after the first fight ended that it appeared like PFL might just run back the rematch immediately given the reception Hughes and Nurmagomedov received for their respective performances.
Instead, Hughes got the chance to headline a card at home in Belfast where he demolished Bruno Miranda in under a minute and it appeared the rematch with Nurmagomedov was cemented.
But out of nowhere, the PFL declared a fight between undefeated lightweight Archie Colgan and Mansour Barnaoui as No. 1 contender’s bout back in June. Colgan won but PFL eventually came back around to offer Hughes his rematch against Nurmagomedov.
“Yeah, absolutely there were [doubts the fight would happen],” Hughes said. “Because it did seem to start dragging on for a long period of time. I obviously felt like it was the obvious choice that the rematch had to happen next. I think most people in the industry were of that line of thinking apart from Usman.
“I think their team, they did try to delay it as long as they could and they did a great job of that but ultimately they were told what they have to do and that is the rematch and here we are.”
With all the drama behind them when it comes to getting the rematch booked, Hughes now has to stay laser focused on righting the wrongs from the first fight that cost him a majority decision and the PFL lightweight championship.
Hughes truly believes he should have left that initial encounter with a gold belt around his waist but he can’t get mired in regrets about what he did wrong, especially now that he’s got a second chance to face Nurmagomedov.
“Well look, I mean obviously hindsight’s 20/20,” Hughes said about errors he made against Nurmagomedov the last time out. “There’s so many things I look back and said I should have did this here, I should have done that there. But ultimately it was my first time fighting him but the beauty of that is the next time isn’t my first time fighting him. I know what to expect. I’ve been there. He’s given me everything that he has.
“Now I know how to implement an even better game plan and that has been my f*cking life since I stepped out of that cage has been defeating this man. That has been every single decision made since that has been in order to do that. I don’t think he’ll rise to the level that I’m going to bring this fight.”
If there’s a single moment from that previous fight that still bothers Hughes, it’s the clash of heads that paused the action after a gash was opened that required attention from a ringside physician.
Hughes has no doubt if that doesn’t happen, he puts Nurmagomedov away before the final bell but that’s only added even more swagger to his step for the rematch.
“I think I had him at death’s door last time and had the head clash not happened at the end of the fourth round and he had that three minute recovery, I do think I would have gotten him out of there that night,” Hughes said. “This time, I know for a fact, like truly, truly know that he won’t last the five rounds.
“There’s a very, very easy thing to do here and that is watch the final exchanges of that fight and look at the body language when that bell rings. That’s all you need to know. Anybody if you’re watching it, just go to that last 10 seconds and have a little watch and look at the body language after. That’s all you need to know.”
Assuming all goes well and Hughes gets his revenge, he’s already plotting a third fight against Nurmagomedov for the future.
Unlike the delay in booking the rematch, Hughes promises he won’t play the same games as Nurmagomedov and he’ll accept the offer for a trilogy right away — under one condition.
“I welcome it right away,” Hughes said. “I’ll do it the month after if they want. You know that this is definitely something I foresee happening in the future for sure.
“The only thing is we have to make sure the trilogy is in Belfast. I’ve already put that out there. I think we could do a stadium in Belfast, easy.”
